The state of special education

[Guest guest]

That is interesting, and seems to confirm what I have been saying. The

kids' needs are falling by the wayside. Whether due to politics,

competing agendas, or the overall state of education inadequacies as a

whole, this is more fodder to demonstrate the need to buck the system

with something along the lines of a scholrship program, to give the

TEA and schools under it one huge wake-up call.

Just think what could have been accomplished if they put as much

energy and money into improving education as they did to fighting SB

1000 and all the paid lobbyists who showed up in droves to oppose it.

Not a single parent showed up to oppose scholarships that wasn't

affiliated with a teacher's union or political organization of some

kind. Instead, collectively these organizations filled the hearing

room and used their influence and gunpower to shoot SB 1000 down,

positioning it as a part of some larger " voucher scheme " which had

nothing to do with children with autism, so they could maintain the

status quo and all the power and money. To me, that's a huge beacon

over the fact we have found the TEA's Achilles' heel and, at the very

least, struck a huge nerve. That tells me we were on the road to a

system overhaul which, from this post, sounds like exactly what we need.

I must say it seems defeatist again, to excuse Texas from applying for

grants that have the potential to help anyone in the education system,

even if they may not end up going to autism. If it's all about the

money, then why aren't they going after it? The excuse they gave:

paperwork burden. Wonder how that compares to the paperwork burden

those in the ARD process have to complete on their " free " time, much

less the ones litigating for IDEA compliance.

If rallying to get two individuals out of the TEA will change all

that, then I say got for it! If I still had a stake in this fight, I

might rather have used a scholarship to find a school to that could

educate my child if my public school refused or was unable to do so

due to limited resources. I like those odds, and its potential for

systemic change, better.

>

> You may be interested to know that when, at the 2007 TEA Autism

Conference,

> I asked Kathy Clayton specifically about using a State Improvement

Grant to

> raise the level of training and services for autism in Texas, she

responded

> that autism wasn't the biggest problem that special education was

facing.

> Disproportionality is. Disproportionality is when kids are placed in

> special ed –not because they have a disability—but because they've

had such

> bad teaching in the regular ed environment that they look and test

like they

> have special needs. So even if Texas is going to get a big state

> improvement grant, the chances of them using it for autism, like

Missouri

> did, are pretty slim.

>

>

>

> I would suggest that we will get never get very far until both Kathy

Clayton

> AND Gene Lenz are no longer affiliated with TEA in any way. Maybe

we can

> hope they both get a really good job in Alabama or Mississippi . As

long as

> they are both around, TEA will continue to dig their heels in against

> bringing more scientifically proven approaches like various methods

like ABA

> into our schools in a systematic and sustainable way.

>

> S.

>

>

>

> " Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great

scientist.

>

> They are wrong: it is character. "

>

> Albert Einstein

>

>

>

> From: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

> [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ] On Behalf Of

mom2boysplano

> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 1:04 PM

> To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

> Subject: [sPAM] Re: Scholarships and the

Status Quo

>

>

>

> I think before we support and push for

> a funding increase, we need to look at where the money is going

> already, why Sp Ed grants aren't being applied for in Texas that all

> other states are receiving,

>

> 01 PM

>

>

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